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The Return
'The Return '''details the return of the humans. Most are trying to catch the dogs running loose in the city and send them away on airplanes to an unknown place. '''The Return '''was released in 2012. It is precededby The Pack. Summary Looking for home… Shep has led his pack through the storm, through their abandoned city, and through vicious battles with the wild dogs. He has become a true alpha- but now the humans have returned, and everything Shep has built is falling apart. The other dogs want to go home; they want to find their families and go back to being pets. But Shep isn’t sure if that’s what he wants. He’s changed so much since he last saw his boy. How can he go back to a leash, now that he knows what it’s like to be free? Praise "Curl up with your kibble and savor this incredible story of dogs left behind when a hurricane sweeps through their city. This page-turner follows stalwart Shep and intrepid Callie, who despite her ‘yapper’ size is up to her muzzle in courage, as this extraordinary canine duo braves their new environment and forms a new pack. Dayna Lorentz has delivered a book with bite--and with a great heart." : ~ Kathryn Lasky, author of The Guardians of Ga’Hoole and Wolves of the Beyond series Characters Shep Callie Zeus Ginny Rufus Boji Daisy Oscar Snoop Dover Fuzz Pumpkin Murphy Excerpt (Excerpt from Chapter 7: The Legend of Lassie) The pack was silent after Ginny finished her story, they were so absorbed in the tale. Even Shep wished to live in that world- he could almost believe in the Great wolf again the way Ginny woofed it. "Wow," yipped Pumpin. "Where can I get more stories like that?" Ginny beamed, tail waving at the compliments of every dog. "Well, how did you meet your family? There might be a story there." "My girl came to where I was born and picked me out of the whole litter of pups to be her superstar show dog," barked Pumpkin, preening as she pranced in the dirt. "I was the pup of two show dogs," woofed Ginny. "But you all could probably tell that from my coat." she flicked her tail, sending it's long hairs sailing over the dust. "Alas, that's not much of a story. What about the rest of you?" Dover, Boji, and Rufus had all been picked from their litters, like Ginny and Pumpkin. Daisy and Oscar both came from the store. "I was rescued from a shelter as a puppy," Callie barked when asked where she came from. "I was born there to a shelter dog." "Did you have any litter mates?" asked Pumpkin. "Maybe that could be a story? 'A Pup and Her Littermates.'" "I don't remember," snuffled Callie, tail low. "My first family gave me away when they had a baby," Zeus growled from the shadows. Apparently, the story had lured him to the edges of the pack. "They pretended to love me until the found something better. Turn that into a story." "That's a terrible story," yipped Pumpkin. "Can a story be terrible?" She cocked her head in Ginny's direction. "Not any story I want to hear," she groaned. "I don't give a ripped toy if his story is terrible," grumbled Rufus. "It doesn't excuse anything he did. He's still a bad dog, no matter what happened to him." Shep didn't disagree with Rufus- just because Zeus's first family had abandoned him didn't make up for the fact that Zeus had murdered dogs, their friends. But still, Shep hadn't known that about his friend- his ex-friend. Zeus had always seemed a little distant, a little afraid of getting too close, like it was fine to play in the Park together, but forget anything else. Not that with collars around their necks, they could have done more. But he wondered if maybe they had barked about it, back when they had been friends in the Park, would Zeus have run off and joined the wild pack? Could things have been different if they had been better friends? Shep wondered how well he knew any of these dogs. For all the suns they'd spent together, they'd had precious few heartbeats just to woof about themselves. Shep wanted to know his pack better, and now that chance was slipping away. All so that these dogs could return to their collars, to the families that left them behind. ''Now that's an idea. . . . "I've got a story for you," Shep woofed. "Once there was a pup who was born in the fight kennel. He grew up and escaped the fight cage only to find himself caught in a harsh world run by wild dogs. He thought he was saved when he was taken in by his boy, but then his boy abandoned him to be eaten by a storm." He looked at his packmates to see if they'd caught his scent; they looked at him with stricken muzzles, tails low and still. He continued, "But this story has a happy ending. That dog met an amazing girldog and they rescued other dogs left alone in the storm by their families. She helped him to smell that dogs are meant to live as a pack, not alone in human dens." He scanned the snouts of his friends. "Are you sure you want to go home to the humans who abandoned you?" he barked. "Why don't we all stay here? There's lots of prey to hunt in the Park. we dogs can rely on each other!" He smiled and panted and waved his tail. No tail answered his wag. Callie loped to Shep's side. She winced a small, tight smile. "I'm sorry, Shep," she woofed. "But we want to go home." She licked his nose. "Your boy loves you. I'm certain that if he could have taken you with him, he would have." All the dogs pressed closer to Shep and Callie, as if trying to take comfort from her woofs. They smelled scared and sad- Shep hadn't made them want to stay with him; he'd made them think their families hated them. What kind of alpha did a thing like that? Pumpkin cocked her muzzle. "You all seem so, how can I bark this, kind of desperate? Crazy?" she yipped. "I mean, your humans love you. It's like in Ginny's story-thing- humans and dogs need each other. Once we get to the shelter, you'll see!" "Easy for you to woof," Zeus snapped. "Your mistress never left you. You never had to fight for your life on the streets." "True," woofed Pumpkin. "But that's all over now. You're almost home." "There's a lot of city between us and home," Dover barked, shaking himself. He turned to Shep and with a stern gaze woofed, "The sun's setting." Shep licked his jowls. He'd made his pitch as best he could; he didn't want to upset his pack any further. If no dog wanted to stay with him, he'd have to form a new pack. But he'd promised Callie he'd get her home, and he would not break a promise to her. "Let's get into formation," he howled. Chapters 1. Tracking Callie 2. The Kennel 3. Escape 4. Decisions, Decisions 5. Denward Bound 6. Lessons On Friendliness And Approachability 7. The Legend Of Lassie 8. Streetwise 9. Lessons Relearned 10. To The Beach 11. Oasis 12. Rip Tide 13. Piecing Things Back Together 14. Home Sweet… Pile of Rubble 15. Outside The Open Door 16. Home * Epilogue